Unfinished (New York Unraveled #3)

Chapter Nine.

STUART.

"Mrs. Delcour left the hospital about two hours ago."

I heard the words that I had been dreading since two months. I thought I could protect her, I thought I could escape who I had become but I was wrong. I was so horribly wrong.

I had been beaten up bloody and bruised, I had seen my mother try to take her own life, I had waited with abated breath to hear the news of my brother returning alive from war, I had spent months in jail pretending to be the bitch boy of an ugly old pervert. But for the first time in my life, I could curl up in a ball and cry.

I could vaguely hear Elena saying something, holding my arm and shaking it, but it was all in the background. I couldn't hear her. I couldn't feel her. The only recurrent thought in my brain was, I messed up, I messed up, I messed up.

Her persistent words finally got through my skull after I don't know how long. "Stuart, can you hear me? Oh my god, I think I should call a doctor or something," she fretted, still trying to shake me out of my stupor. "I'm okay," I heard myself say but my voice sounded foreign even to my own ears. "Listen Elena." At that this moment, I unexpectedly jerked awake. "I have to go. I have to find mom. She might be in grave danger."

I hurried to find myself a shirt and a jacket, Elena trailing me worriedly the whole way. Next I went to my brother's old room. In a drawer inside his cupboard, under a stack of clothes, he kept a shotgun which I retrieved. I knew I would need that and if Brian and his minions had her, I wouldn't hesitate to use it on them.

"Stuart, what the hell is that for?" she said, fearfully eyeing the gun that half disappeared in the waistband of my jeans, the other half getting conveniently covered by my jacket.

I didn't answer her. There was too much going on in my mind. It had been two hours since she'd left the hospital but hadn't reached home. I didn't understand how Brian could have gotten to her. She was supposed to call me when her shift was over so that I could pick her up. She was aware that she wasn't supposed to go meandering outside on her own. And if she didn't, how was it that Brian managed to catch hold of her inside the hospital?

Either way, I was going to get her back. If there was even a hair lost on my mother, he would pay with his life. I was a docile teddy bear till my family and Elena. Beyond that, I was a dangerous thing and Brian hadn't learnt to not mess with me yet. My sympathies wouldn't extend to their puny asses.

I pocketed a huge knife from the kitchen. I wanted to be prepared. Just in case.

"Stuart, you're scaring me," said Elena in a small voice, standing at the doorway with her arms around her middle. I hadn't even stopped to think about how it would look from her eyes. Seeing your boyfriend randomly freeze then go crazy serial killer is not exactly routine shit.

I held her firmly by the shoulders so she could look in my eyes as she heard my words. "I'm going to find mom. I need you to stay here, Elena. Lock the doors and latch the windows. Don't open it for anyone. I don't care if a child is dying outside or I'm begging you or Santa is getting decapitated. You will in no condition open this door. Are we clear?" I shook her a little like a machine that had stopped working. I needed her to understand how grave the situation was and I needed her to be safe. I couldn't take her with me because she would just become the weak link of my armor. I had to cage my horcrux instead of serving it under their noses. I knew my home wasn't exactly the safest place but it was safer than anything else. If I had been using my mind a little more, I would have left her with her brother or something. But I wasn't and I paid dearly for my mistakes.

"What's going on, Stuart? You're really freaking me out," she said meekly, shrinking into herself.

I flinched when she flinched at my tone. "It's a long story. I can't explain right now. But please trust me, okay? And don't call your brother. He'll haul my ass to jail before helping out. Please trust me."